More than 100 women who had their wombs unnecessarily removed at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda have been invited to make applications for compensation under a redress scheme which has now been drawn up.
The women, some of whose records are missing, will be entitled to compensation of between €60,000 and €380,000. The amounts handed out will depend among other things on the age of the women and whether or not they had children before their wombs were removed.
The redress scheme is being devised for the victims of the former obstetrician Dr Michael Neary by Judge Maureen Harding Clark, who conducted the Lourdes Hospital Inquiry into the high rate of Caesarean hysterectomies carried out at the hospital between 1974 and 1998.
Between 20 and 30 other women who underwent other unnecessary gynaecological procedures such as having their ovaries removed, or whose babies died in unusual circumstances or who believe their wombs were unnecessarily removed by another doctor, are still waiting to hear if they will be included in the redress scheme.
Sheila O'Connor, the spokeswoman for Patient Focus which represents the women, said yesterday she was pleased the first part of the scheme had been agreed. The 100 plus women to which this part of the scheme applied to had been written to in recent days and they were asked to apply for redress and their applications would be dealt with in a matter of weeks, she said.
"But we still have outstanding matters to deal with in relation to eligibility of a number of other women for the scheme. We hope that will be sorted out very soon."
At most some 150 women will be seeking redress, the bill for which could be up to €40 million.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said yesterday the redress scheme has not yet been finalised. She said the department was still waiting on Judge Harding Clark's recommendations for the redress scheme.
The judge was asked last March by Minister for Health Mary Harney to advise on how to provide redress to the women affected by procedures carried out at the Lourdes hospital.